Calgary city hall has been tasked with looking at the possibility of contracting out municipally run golf courses and reporting back to council in November.
“We have heard from some members of councils over the years we might want to look at contracting out or using different operators for our golf course operations,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.
“I certainly don’t mind discussing that. I’m always very agnostic on these things. If it saves money and delivers better customer service, why not look at it.”
Council had initially looked at conducting a wide-ranging analysis of the state of golf in the city. Funding for the $150,000 research project was rejected at Monday’s council meeting by a vote of 10-5. Instead, city administration will investigate what it could look like to run golf courses in the same manner as some other city recreation facilities.
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“Many city rec facilities are actually run by private operators,” Nenshi said. “All four of our new rec centres will be run by private operators. Golf courses are run by city staff. This really is taking a look and seeing if a private operator can do a better job with that city facility.”
Nenshi cautioned that this wouldn’t mean the city is looking to sell courses, but said long-term management contracts could be in the cards if the city presses ahead with moving to private operators.
“You have to really be convinced the private operator can do a better and cheaper job – and/or provide customer service – than the city can without massively increasing green fees.”
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